AutoHotkey Community

[ralphh85]

friend in work uses virtual basic to creat some lil programs, i know little about it, does it do same job as ahk? is it thought ti be better or what?

[BoBo]

Yes, indeed - it's better or what.

[PhiLho]

I don't know what virtual basic can do...

Visual Basic is powerful (despite what C/C++/Java programmers say, seeing it as a toy language...) and has access to Com, WinAPI, GDI, a wider range of controls, etc. It has a lot of examples and code samples available on the Net. It allows fine control on the GUI events, and for advanced users, its system of classes allows it to do complex programs.

Now, if you try to do with VB what AutoHotkey does really well, like hotkeys & keyboard remapping, window control, etc., you can do it, but it is hard because you will need to recreate the same code by hand, using calls to WinAPI.

AutoHotkey has also the advantage of being lightweight: it only needs the exe, or if "compiled", it has a standalone exe. VB needs loads of runtime DLLs, quite big, even if they are now distributed with Windows.

Some people prefer the AHK syntax, seemingly less impressive or simplier that the Basic one.
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vPhiLho := RegExReplace("Philippe Lhoste", "^(\w{3})\w*\s+\b(\w{3})\w*$", "$1$2")

[holomind]